Answers Sought In Eviction Case

March 09, 2007|By DON STACOM; Courant Staff Writer

BRISTOL — A city council member has filed a freedom of information request for documents that show when Mayor William Stortz and the city's attorney learned of an important development in the Ocean State Job Lot eviction case.

The request appears to be the latest development in a political rift that has been widening since the council last week rejected Stortz's plan to buy out Ocean State's lease. The Democratic-dominated council said it made no sense to pay Ocean State more than $500,000 to move when the retailer might be evicted within the next few months.

Stortz's plan appeared to have bipartisan support before the council convened, with some council members saying they feared Ocean State could drag its appeal into next winter. But the measure was voted down 5-1 after Councilman Frank Nicastro announced he had just learned Ocean State's appeal had been scheduled for mid-April. With a potentially favorable court decision in the near future, there wouldn't be a reason to settle the case out of court, council members said.

Several council members privately complained after the meeting that Stortz and Corporation Counsel Edward Krawiecki should have known that the appeal had been scheduled for April. Nicastro said he found the information on the judicial system's public website.

Councilman Craig Minor asked Stortz and Krawiecki on Thursday for a copy of any written communication they received from the state Supreme Court about when Ocean State's appeal would be heard.

``Please be sure that the copies show any manual or automatic time and date stamp or printing that are on the original documents,'' according to a copy of Minor's e-mail message obtained by The Courant.

Contacted late Thursday, Minor confirmed that he had sent the FOI request. He said Stortz has replied that Krawiecki's office would handle the request.

``There is the impression the mayor knew the date had been set prior to our council meeting and withheld that information from us,'' Minor said. ``That would be very serious. But we don't know if it's true. I'm hopeful we can resolve whether he did or didn't know.''

Stortz could not be reached late Thursday for comment. He has previously said that the council knew the Ocean State hearing could be held any time before December.